NALCO pays rs.403.62 crore interim dividend to Union govt.

By Sukanta Mohanty

Bhubaneswar: National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, under Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India, has declared an interim dividend of 56%, i.e. Rs 2.80 per share of Rs 5 each, amounting to Rs.541.22 crore for the financial year 2016-17, on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs.966.46 crore.

This is the highest-ever dividend declared by the company since inception.

Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Govt of India, was presented a cheque, amounting to Rs 403.62 crore by Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, NALCO, in the presence of  Shri Arun Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Govt of India and Shri Subhash Chandra, IFS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Govt of India, as interim dividend on the 74.58 per cent shares held by the Govt of India, in New Delhi on 21st March 2017.

The Union Minister Shri Goyal appreciated the effective functioning of NALCO despite sluggishness in the market. Other senior officials of the Ministry and NALCO were present on the occasion.

NALCO, which started its commercial operations in 1987 has been earning profits consistently and has been declaring dividends since 1992. In 2015-16 fiscal, the company had declared a total dividend of Rs.467.13 crore.  It may be mentioned that since inception, NALCO has paid a total of Rs.6365 crore as dividend including Rs.5371 crore as share of Govt. of India.